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“I remember that day, all those years ago. And I’ve blamed you for my own failings ever since,” he wheezes.
“I was almost dead once, at the bottom of a lake, and you saved me. Now I wake up and find out it’s you who gave me yet another chance, with a better heart,” he adds, wanting to tap his chest but I stop him.
Mark’s lips curl into a face that’s holding back regret. Or is it something else?
I can’t tell. But he stays quiet when I plead with my eyes for him to hear my dad out.
“I blamed you for everything, Mark. And I was wrong.” I hear my dad say aloud, almost whimpering the tears that I feel coming.
“I lost you as my brother, my best friend. And then I lost Evelyn’s mom a few years later. She didn’t want to stick around with a guy who was so bitter. But at least she left me, my angel. My beautiful daughter, Evelyn,” he gasps.
“I never even knew you had a family, Nick,” Mark says. His voice thick with emotion.
“If you’d only-” he adds before my dad chokes his reply. “And if you’d only come back to me. Looked us up. Anything,” he sighs.
“You were pretty clear on your terms last time we spoke, twenty years ago, Nick,” Mark reminds him, almost growling.
“I suppose I was,” my dad whispers, a tear sliding from his cheek that I catch with a tissue.
“But… I’ve had some time to lie here and think about things, Mark. Seems two chances at the same life are better than none,” he sobs suddenly.
“Maybe I was an asshole, Mark? Maybe I was too proud to accept that I could be saved twice by the same man. My brother?” he finally asks, holding up a shaking hand.
“You got a brother for life, Nick,” Mark says firmly, gripping his hand for what I can only guess is the first time in twenty something years. “No question,” he adds, but his eyes dart to mine and I have to convey I haven’t told my dad about us.
Not quite yet.
“There’s an interview coming up on TV,” I pipe in, interrupting the pair and flicking the channels over until I see the familiar face of the hospital supervisor.
It’s all or nothing, I figure. If my dad can take Mark back, he can accept the fact I’m gonna become a doctor too, someday.
A one-day doctor who just happens to be in love with the very real, present-day surgeon, Dr. Mark Love.
The man I know I want to spend the rest of my life with. If only I knew how to bring that part of the conversation up.
I’m not sure who looks more surprised though. My dad or Mark.
There’s a press conference in the foyer of the hospital alright, but it’s all about the billionaire we both flew back from Bermuda.
An as-yet-unnamed patient who it’s revealed is one of the majority owners of the hospital.
“Why am I seeing this, sweetie?” Dad sighs, his head lolling back as the TV fails to keep attention.
Mark and I almost shrugging in unison as the press conference continues.
The mystery emergency patient carries more weight than either of us ever expected.
The press conference reveals all, making the hospital director a hero as well as my man, Dr. Mark Love.
Mark leans over, seeing how weak my dad is.
“Maybe we can leave everything else ‘til later?” he suggests, and I readily agree.
“Let me take you home,” he adds, noting my dad’s need to get some sleep.
But dad isn’t done yet.
“I’m no fool, Mark. I know what’s going on with you and my only daughter,” he says firmly, trying to sit up and failing again before I can settle him.
Once the newscast reaches his ears, I realize it might not have been such a great idea to involve everything all at once.
There’s the hospital director, a close-up in a newscast, praising the efforts of himself first and then the actions of Dr. Mark Love and his nursing assistant in bringing the man home in time for life saving surgery.
They say the camera adds ten pounds, but I don’t even recognize myself from the footage, and heck knows where they filmed that from anyway.
Must’ve been Bermuda as we boarded that tiny plane and again when we arrived in the ambulance.
Jesus my ass looks huge.
Mark smiles to himself as he watches my shapes move across the screen, but is quick to explain everything.
Even though it might not be to my dad’s liking.
“Yep. I got her here, Nick,” he drawls. “And she’ll make a fine doctor herself one day… If you’ll let her,” he adds, shooting me a wink.
My dad shakes his head.
“Don’t change the subject, Mark. I know Evelyn wants to be a doctor, I’ve tried to talk her out of it for years. What I’m talking about right now is how you ended up with her in Bermuda while I’ve lain here like a wet fish in a sack?”
